Lost Ring- Please Advise Me What I should do

[Violetphoenix]

Hello everyone! Finally decided to post about my missing ring, in hope I may be lucky that someone might recognize it or have seen it floating around somewhere and let me know, I will forever be grateful. I also would like to ask the forum for advice what should I do in this case, when the ring I purchased, shipped from the seller's bench was missing.

Some of you might remember that I posted a free form pink tourmaline ring on "show me the bling" thread back in October 2015. It was an oval pink Stewart Mine tourmaline set in a free form 18k yellow gold setting. I haven't had a chance wearing this ring even once except only to put it on to take few photos of the ring so I can show it off on PS before it went back to the jeweler/bench for an adjustment. Here are few pics of the ring.

To make long story short....I purchased the ring from a reputable, PS recognized seller. He had his bench, who designed and made the ring, sized it for me. I received the ring, happy with the sizing but the stone look crooked. I contacted the seller, sent him few pics of the ring. He agreed with my observations, emailed me back with instruction, name and address of the jeweler/bench who made the ring and told me to ship it back directly to the bench to save shipping time.

Jeweler/bench received ring from me, told me he fixed it and sent back to me via insured USPS priority.

I received the package, all the original jewelry box was inside the package, but the ring was not there.

Immediately I contacted both the jeweler and seller. Both suggested that I should file a lost claim.

I did all I could, submitted claim and appealed twice but claim was denied, USPS decided there was no evidence the package was damaged therefore they're not liable for the missing content.

I do realize this isn't anyone's fault. It's a misfortune situation, but in this situation who would be financial responsible for a remake of another ring? I bought the ring because of this special stone, where it came from, who cut it, and of course how unique this ring was.

Is it the seller's sole responsibility, the jeweler/bench, or me? The seller and I did agreed that we had no doubt that the jeweler/bench did put the ring inside the jewelry box.

Please remember, I'm not posting this to bash the seller, but to get some insight as what procedure do I need to do now?

Here are few pics of the ring

 

[pyramid]

The seller and I did agreed that we had no doubt that the jeweler/bench did put the ring inside the jewelry box.

Why did you agree with this? So if the parcel has no signs of being tampered with and it is not you, of course, then who is it? The seller or someone else who works with him or is it lost in his building? If it got sent to the wrong customer then it did not get put in your box. I would not agree anything with the seller that gives them an out? Have you got insurance, that would be your best bet?

 

[ElizabethR]

So sorry for the loss of your beautiful ring. If the package was not damaged when you received it, it would take quite a while for someone in the transit stage of its journey to skillfully open and then restore. So, the person who packaged and shipped it, or the USPS receiving office looks to me, to be at least, somewhere to start. Have you involved law-enforcement? You should, both in the city it was shipped from, and yours. Tampering with the mail is a crime.

To answer your question, AS BENCH/JEWELER MAILED IT INSURED HE'S THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN PUT IN A CLAIM FOR ITS VALUE/loss. Has he made a claim for its loss?

I hope you get it back. You should check sites like Ebay daily.

 

[VRBeauty]

What a beautiful ring! I'm so sorry that it's now lost. I'm afraid I have no suggestions, as to what you should do next, however, if you agreed to use priority shipping rather than registered mail for this shipment. If you had asked for registered mail and the repair shop decided to use priority mail instead, I think you'd have a case to sue the shop... although I know that's not the solution you're hoping for.

BTW this is one of my nightmares. The last time I had an expensive piece of jewelry shipped to me I had a friend tape me continuously from getting the box at the post office to opening it (also there at the post office).

To answer your question, AS BENCH/JEWELER MAILED IT INSURED HE'S THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN PUT IN A CLAIM FOR ITS VALUE/loss. Has he made a claim for its loss?

Ditto - this is my understanding too.

 

[Diamondz1]

Bummer! I'm thinking if the package did not appear to be tampered with or damaged, and the ring box was empty, then the ring had never been put in the box to begin with. I'd ask the jeweler/bench to scour their workshop in case it fell behind a desk or got misplaced. I worked at a jeweler once long ago and we had a ring in a work order envelope get tossed in the trash, a ring fell down an elevator shaft, and once a ring got stuffed into a desk drawer absent mindedly instead of being returned to the vault - human error happens. We also had someone attempt to steal a ring so, that happens too :/

I'd assume that the jewler is insured in the case of loss/damage/theft of something in their posession. If they agree to taking responsibility, they could probably file a claim of their own and reimburse you.

But hopefully it turns up!

 

[tweeter8177]

Sorry about the loss of your beautiful ring! I would pushback on the seller who shipped the ring! The jewelry I have been shipped is triple boxed/packaged. Was yours?

 

[marymm]

OP, I also think you lost some ground when you agreed with the vendor that there was "no doubt the jeweler/bench put the ring inside" the mailing envelope.

As there was no apparent damage to the mailing envelope, USPS is off the hook too since they delivered the parcel intact to you.

The only logical explanation(s) for the missing ring are that (1) the jeweler/bench did not put the ring inside the box (knowingly or unknowingly) or (2) the ring was inside the box when you opened it but you somehow lost/misplaced it.

By chance, was anyone with you when you opened the parcel?

Has the jeweler/bench confirmed they thorough searched any areas where the ring might have gone missing at their end?

I do think you should request that either/both your original vendor and the jeweler/bench take responsibility and submit a claim(s) to their insurer(s) to reimburse you the value of the ring. However, there really are no facts to support any one scenario is more likely than another as to why/how the ring is missing, so it is possible neither party will assume the responsibility to make you whole.

I truly hope both professionals will do their utmost to redress this situation. And I am particularly sorry this special ring is lost to you.

 

[MollyMalone]

To answer your question, AS BENCH/JEWELER MAILED IT INSURED HE'S THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN PUT IN A CLAIM FOR ITS VALUE/loss. Has he made a claim for its loss?

That's USPS policy if the claim is because the letter/package is "lost in the wind." But in this situation -- where the claim seeks compensation because some/all of the contents of a delivered letter/package are missing -- either the mailer or the addressee can file the claim, unless certain special circumstances apply. See paragraph (a) under header 1.3 on numbered page 853 (1st page of section 609 re Filing Indemnity Claims for Loss or Damage) of this PDF:
http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm300/full/MailingStandards.pdf

So it's A-OK that VioletPhoenix initiated the claim with USPS.

I'm so very sorry to hear that your dearly hoped-for ring is not back in your possession. Not sure what legal theory would be the basis for holding the seller of the stone liable since, as I understand it, the ring wasn't entrusted to him to take care of the resizing, he hasn't seen the ring since sending it off to you in October. I'm also fearing that too much time has passed since the empty package was delivered for either the vendor or the jeweler-bench to submit a claim to their respective insurance companies, if one or both even have a policy that would cover this.

Have you had any phone conversations or email correspondence with the jeweler-bench?

 

[tracylt]

What a nightmare! I'm so sorry it happened to you, and I hope you'll be able to work with your vendor and USPS to resolve this.

 

[Violetphoenix]

Sorry, I didn't mean to post and run. I thought raising four children was quite a challenge (and rewarding of course), but help taking care of Alzheimer's parents (not one, but two) while working full time, is impossible to spare any free time for social, chatting, or even just lurking on PS. Also, I never feel comfortable writing or making comments on a public forum in general; however, I do appreciate everyone who read my post and responded to my questions whether favorable or not. I'm not giving up hope, my ring might still show up.

I just want to clarify some confusions because I do see different perspectives/comments here. There are also some questions I didn't answer. Please accept my apology for taking so long to follow up.

I purchased this ring from vendor which indicated on the PayPal invoice the price included sizing.
Ring was sized by original jeweler/bench and shipped to vendor. Vendor then shipped ring to me. Sizing was perfect but stone looked crooked, lopsided. I immediately contacted vendor and sent him pics. Vendor agreed, after looked over the pics, asked me to ship ring back to the bench to have it adjusted. I sent ring via USPS priority, insured, to bench. He received the ring, fixed it, and sent it back to me by same insured USPS. Original ring box was inside a torn bubble wrap, but ring was not there.

I believe the bench placed the ring in the jewelry box because he said he did. He's an honorable person, there's no reason for me to doubt his honesty. Also, I trust people and value their trust unless there's a reason for me not to. Also, the vendor even said that he and the bench knew each other for a long time and their children used to play sports together.

I contacted both the bench and vendor as soon as I realized the ring was missing. Since the package was not damaged or torn, I didn't think USPS had anything to do with it. The box has multiple layers of tapes and the mailing label is not taped down, the stamp looks smeared, etc. the packaging box just didn't look right to me. My first suspicion was it was tampered at the local postal place, especially after talking to the bench. His daughter who mailed it out said she had the worker at the postal helped her pack the box because she didn't have a box. I even asked her to go back to the place and question the worker who helped her, but she didn't think that was necessary because she had used their service for many years. I tried to call the place to see if someone may have seen the ring fell out, but my call got cut off short. The worker replied she was too busy and can't help me.

Why did I filed for the claim?
Both the vendor and the bench told me to file for the claim since I had the possession of the package.

I DiD NOT volunteer to file for the claim
I was told by the bench and the vendor to do my best and was promised by the vendor (in emails, and verbally) that he and the bench will make sure that I will be happy.
His exact words...We (as he and the bench) will recreate another ring the same design and with another stone he has that came from the same rough.

I started the online claim the next day and it took so long because I had to wait for the claim office's response. The whole process, including two appeals, took almost four months. The vendor and bench were kept posted with all the updates.

Basically, the post office said the claim was denied even it was insured, because there was no way of knowing whether the ring was there in the first place. I don't know certain whether the ring fell out or was stolen, basically I paid $1699 for the ring, which I haven't worn once, except to put on to take few pictures.

Now I'm frustrated because vendor had decided to be silence and ignored all my emails. Bench is getting frustrated too. He said he realized it wasn't anyone fault and willing to remake another ring but the vendor has not kept his promise in sending another stone.
The bench now offers to make another ring for me with his own stone. The stone he had is nowhere near the color or shape of the stone in the original ring. I don't want to settle for just anything. I bought this ring for a specific reason. I even told vendor that if the new stone costs more, I'm willing to pay for the difference. That was 4 weeks ago, no response from him so far. This is why I finally break my silence. I'm not happy how unprofessional the vendor has been handling this unfortunate situation. Don't know at this point can I still get PayPal involve. Can I?

 

[wildcat03]

I believe that PayPal gives up to 6 months to file some claims, so you may still be able to, but based on your timeline you probably need to do it VERY soon. I'd call ASAP.